Whenever the Director of Service finds any gasoline and oil filling station to be abandoned within the meaning of this chapter, he or she shall give notice in the same manner as service of summonses in civil cases or by certified mail addressed to the owner of record of the premises at his or her last known address or to the address to which tax bills are sent, or by a combination of the foregoing methods. Such notice shall be to abate such abandoned condition within thirty days either by placing the station in operation in accordance with this chapter, adapting and using the building for another permitted business use, or razing the gasoline and filling station structure, removing the pumps, storage tanks and signs and filling depressions to the grade level of the lot. However, if the station is in operation at the time notice is given and remains in operation for ninety consecutive days thereafter, or is placed in operation within three months after notice is given and continues to operate for ninety days consecutively, the provisions of this chapter shall not apply. Further, Council, by resolution, may determine that by reason of the effect of a national emergency which would curtail the operation of motor vehicles or of a state of general economic depression, the provisions of this chapter shall not apply.
Upon the failure, neglect or refusal of any owner to comply with the notice to abate such abandonment, the Director of Service shall advise the Director of Law of all the facts and such Director of Law shall proceed to exercise on behalf of the City any remedy which shall then be available to it to secure an abatement of such abandonment, including any that pertains to the abatement of a public nuisance, and to recover any damages or enforce any penalties which may be recovered or imposed at the instance of the City.
Inoperative service stations, whether or not abandoned, shall be maintained in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and the owner shall cut all grass and remove all rubbish and weeds from the premises. The parking of motor vehicles upon such premises shall be prohibited and the owner shall place in the window of such gasoline and oil filling station a sign of at least ten square feet in area notifying the public of this fact. If the Director of Service shall find that such notice is not complied with by the public, he or she may order the owner of the premises to install fencing approved by such Director of Service which will be sufficient to block motor vehicle access to such property.
(Ord. 97-1970. Passed 5-18-70.)